Welcome to This Time for Real. I started this blog to document my progress during the latest in my many efforts to lose weight, get healthy, and feel better, mentally and physically. You will get a running narrative of what I’ll be eating, doing, and thinking, ideally every day, and one of my goals is to have that narrative turn into a dialog. I hope that by reading this you will find useful information about health-related topics, nutrition, and why it is important to approach achieving good health as something more than preventing disease and managing symptoms.

It occurred to me that having spent most of my life being obsessed with food, body image and depression (among plenty of other things), I have gathered a vast amount of information on different theories of weight loss and nutrition, not to mention therapy and self-care. I plan to share some of the wide range of gems and pearls (of wisdom, that is) I have collected over lo, these many years, as well as to shamelessly promote the guy who is helping me get this party started.

I had my second appointment with Dr. Bob Kelder this morning. Dr. Bob is a chiropractor with a compelling drive to help people get and stay well. He has promised to help me navigate the path toward the New Me over the next 6 months, and I predict he will be exactly who I need to have in my corner for advice and support.

What makes me believe this program is not “just another diet” is Dr. Bob’s sincerity and earnestness. He assures me I will not be deprived of the things that make life worth living (among them coffee and pizza), and that the plan is to address the specific issues I have, not a generic approach that is easily found in a million other places. This is a man who truly embraces the concept of holistic health care, and it’s very obvious he practices what he preaches. He is full of life and vitality, and his enthusiasm is definitely contagious. I think we’re going to have some fun.

I’m starting off with a detox (oh, joy), but it doesn’t look like it will be overly harsh. I have gone through sugar rehab before, and I suspect I can do it again. I think what will be the most difficult is the amount of preparation time it will take me to put together a week’s worth of meals. Real food is not convenient; it requires chopping and cooking. I’m much happier just opening a can or a package. However, there have been periods of time in the past where I was very diligent about “playing with my food” every Sunday afternoon, chopping vegetables and cooking extra portions of protein so I wouldn’t have to cook during the week. I’m almost looking forward to refining that plan to allow for some new recipes and to focus on meals that are delicious and satisfying.